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August could be busy month for Angels

August could be busy month for Angels

Jerry Dipoto

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ARLINGTON -- All the rumors and the tweeting and the chatter and the scenarios and the speculation and the MLBTradeRumors.com page views slowed considerably at 1 p.m. PT on Tuesday, when the buzzer sounded on yet another non-waiver Trade Deadline.

For the Angels, though, August may be just as busy.

"Busy is as busy does," general manager Jerry Dipoto said in a phone interview Wednesday. "Every day is busy. It's not like when the sun came up this morning I thought, 'All right, now starts the vacation.' We're always working hard. We're navigating right now through a particularly difficult part of our schedule, and I think the team is coming out nicely.

"We're excited about the next couple of months and just continuing to put ourselves in a position to be competitive and hopefully land a spot at the table [the postseason] when it's all said and done."

To do that, the Angels' next step -- perhaps their final touch -- could be to add another bullpen weapon or two.

July saw them take care of the rotation in emphatic fashion, essentially beating out the Rangers to acquire Zack Greinke, the best starting pitcher moved before the Deadline, without having to give up the coveted Peter Bourjos or Garrett Richards.

But it's bullpen arms that the Angels tried hard to get and ultimately didn't add.

Dipoto wouldn't say who they were close to acquiring or what other moves were talked about -- a lot was thrown around -- but a lack of roster flexibility on a bullpen that has been good enough to post a 3.40 ERA on the year definitely played a factor.

But the strained left shoulder of critical lefty Scott Downs, out for an undetermined amount of time, could change things.

Right?

"Not at all," Dipoto said. "You're always open to any way that you can get better. Scotty's been terrific for us all year, we don't anticipate this being a long, drawn-out process, but like I said, you never know. And as a result, like I said all along, you remain as flexible as you can be. We'll keep turning over the stones."

Now that the non-waiver Deadline has passed, deals involving players on the 40-man roster cannot be made unless the players already have cleared waivers. In other words, the player must be offered to the other teams in reverse order of the standings, and if he is claimed by someone, he cannot be traded. The club that placed the player on waivers can either withdraw the request and keep the player, or let the player go to the claiming team, which would then have the rights to the player.

A lot of players will be placed on waivers, but very few of them actually end up being moved. Still, relievers will be out there to be had.

"There will be opportunity," Dipoto said. "Whether we choose to be involved in taking advantage of that opportunity remains to be seen. Like I said at the start, we like our bullpen.

"Everybody's got a different way of thinking, and I know everybody has their designs on what should be done, but at the end of the day, we feel really comfortable with the group we have down there, and we think they've done a heck of a job."